We can solve Kurdish problem with HDP: CHP leader

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said a legitimate body is needed for the Kurdish problem, which has not been resolved for almost 40 years, adding that they can solve the issue with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

“The institution you call the state cannot deal with an illegitimate body. For example, İmrali is not a legitimate body. Who is the legitimate body? We can see the HDP as a legitimate body. If this issue is to be resolved, we can solve it with a legitimate body,” he said in a documentary, referring to the island where the leader of the PKK terror group, Abdullah Öcalan, has been jailed for over 20 years.

Speaking in the first episode of the documentary “Mr. Kemal and His Alliances” by journalist and documentary filmmaker Günel Cantak, Kılıçdaroğlu said the HDP has public support and is represented in parliament.

The “İmralı process,” or “peace process,” refers to the talks held between officials and Öcalan, aimed at convincing PKK militants to lay down their arms and withdraw from Turkish soil. But the talks failed in 2015 after a few years of negotiations.

In reply to the CHP leader’s remarks, HDP lawmaker Sezai Temelli said, “The address of the solution and real interlocutor is İmralı.”

The HDP is not the only address for the solution of the Kurdish problem, but the main actor that creates and facilitates democratic politics for the solution of this problem is the HDP, Temelli tweeted.

“But what should never be forgotten is that İmralı is the address and main interlocutor of the democratic solution,” he said.